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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728185">Clouds of Laughter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bladesilverred/pseuds/Bladesilverred'>Bladesilverred</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bellow Diamond Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, Healing, One Shot, Short, Short One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:21:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bladesilverred/pseuds/Bladesilverred</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Change/Healing.</p><p>Day 1 of Bellow Diamond Week 2020!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blue Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bellow Diamond Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787989</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Clouds of Laughter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi all! It's been a tough few months, but I've got some shorts for the week! Some might be late, but I will try to get them all out! My writing is pretty rusty, so excuse the quality. I've never done a ship week and wanted to participate this year!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been just over 100 cycles since the top half of the Diamond meccha had landed back on Homeworld, bringing Spinel and the Diamonds back home. </p><p>During that time, everything had changed. </p><p>And yet, it was almost as if nothing had.</p><p>The Great Diamond Authority was still seen as the paragon of control and perfection. No matter how eloquent the grand speeches of change are said, or how hard the three remaining Diamonds try to fit in, interact more  with their former subjects. </p><p>They don’t fit.</p><p>Their size, even when they shrink down to their smallest possible form towers over other gems. Their power unrivaled even with Era 1 gems when resources were abundant. Their speech patterns seem lacking, having next to no experience with speaking to others as equals.</p><p>Even with Spinel to help, it didn’t take long for the three Diamonds to retreat back to their own rooms to brood. </p><p>White taking it the best, retreating to her sparkling white walled room with a determined glint in her eyes, wanting to figure out a solution to the problem. </p><p>Yellow being the most neutral, most calculating of the three, wanting to give the other gems time to sort out their feelings themselves before trying anything else drastic. </p><p>But Blue, just barely out of the murky waters of grief, felt their otherness the deepest. Her retreat was one of defeat, of despair, of hopelessness. </p><p>And Yellow of course can’t stand this new cloud of sadness that permeates the azure side of the palace. </p><p>She never could. </p><p>So, that’s why she’s standing in front of Blue’s large double doors, gloved hand poised in front of the glowing keypad, hesitating. Listening to her beloved’s soft cries. </p><p>Giving herself a moment to gather herself, Yellow smacks open the doors. </p><p>
  <em>Don’t get mad,</em> she thinks to herself as she walks in to the figure in the pool, <em>be sensitive!</em>
</p><p>
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    <em>“What’s gotten into you?” The golden gem winces. <em>Not gentle at all.</em>
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    <em>But to her surprise, the other Diamond simply lifts up her head and smiles, tears still streaming down her face. </em>
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    <em>“Yellow, what a surprise! What brings you here?” </em>
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    <em>“I…You’re crying,” Yellow states, suddenly at loss. In the millennia that they have been together, she has never felt truly comfortable with the tears, the emotion that Blue seemed to show freely. </em>
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    <em>She watches as cerulean eyes droop in shame, feeling the ever present urge to comfort the sad gem intensify. </em>
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    <em>“No, it’s okay!” she adds quickly, “I just wanted to see if you’d like to talk? Tell me what’s wrong.”</em>
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    <em>“Oh,” Blue breathes, light returning into her eyes. “I was just rather lonely and oh, it’s so silly.”</em>
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    <em>Yellow walks briskly into the room, lowering herself into the glistening water, and wading over to embrace the still crying Diamond. </em>
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    <em>“It’s not silly,” she whispers.</em>
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    <em>Blue lets out a sigh. “Do you think that the change is enough? I just feel so isolated. So lonely. The other gems, they look to us for guidance, for direction. Will we ever be anything other than dictators? You, more than anyone, knows how sad I was before we learned of Pink’s fate. And now, with Spinel and Steven, I thought that perhaps that sadness would have lifted. It should have lifted, but I can’t help but think that nothing has changed!”</em>
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    <em>The tears begin to stream as Blue begins to cry again in earnest. </em>
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    <em>Holding her closer, Yellow stays silent for a moment, just enjoying that they get to do this, to embrace and comfort each other now. No more guilt about work or pretending not to be in love because “it’s not how a Diamond should behave”. </em>
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    <em>“I think,” the golden gem begins slowly, “that whatever we do, we’ll always be ostracized. We spent a long time being untouchable, and the other gems will not easily forget that. But, maybe in time, they will learn to see that we’ve changed. And we have changed. We are fixing the parts of ourselves that are broken and they will see that. I see it in you, your sadness has changed, Blue. It’s lighter.”</em>
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    <em>“You always were the smarter of the two of us,” Blue comments wryly, her tears slowing. </em>
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    <em>“Don’t be absurd, Blue. We were made with equal, but differing intellects. It is what makes--made the Authority so strong. It would be counterproductive if all four Diamonds had the exact same strengths and weaknesses bec--”</em>
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    <em>Giggles burst out of the azure gem’s lips, the light, melodic noise taking over the formerly melancholic atmosphere. With each chuckle, little clouds begin to form, floating around the room unnoticed. </em>
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    <em>“Oh, Yellow, you always were so good at making me smile,” Blue says, once the giggles die down. </em>
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    <em>The indignant look on her lover’s face forces a deep, belly laugh out of her, and suddenly the small clouds become too large to ignore. </em>
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    <em>But Blue speaks again, cutting off the questions Yellow wants to ask.</em>
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    <em>“My love,” she says, so quietly, so reverently that it takes every ounce of Yellow’s willpower not to capture her lips in a deep kiss and let her finish speaking. </em>
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    <em>“You’re right, of course you’re right, my brilliant Yellow,” Blue continues, just as reverently, “I was emotional today, but it has been better. <em>I</em> have been better, stronger. I lost sight of the progress we’ve done.”</em>
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    <em>“Then I will remind you. Every day,” Yellow vows. </em>
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    <em>The two lean against each other in silence for a moment, watching the swirling clouds above them. </em>
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    <em>Finally, curiosity wins and the golden gem asks, “What are these? I have never seen them before.”</em>
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    <em>A mischievous look passes through Blue’s face. “Oh, they’re a new power I’ve discovered. They appear when I laugh. They’re wonderfully soft, love, go ahead and see for yourself.”</em>
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    <em>Yellow stretches out a hand to the white puffs, and an unexpected and undignified giggle comes out of her mouth. The shock evident on her face causes Blue to howl with laughter. </em>
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    <em>More clouds swirl around them as they laugh, and they take to throwing the clouds back and forth, laughing more as they go. </em>
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    <em>And Blue thinks that maybe, they just might be alright.</em>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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